Tom Izzo is one of the most media-friendly coaches in America. He has been for years. Of course, he’ll give journalists a hard time if he disagrees with their assessment (see: Graham Couch, often) or if he is annoyed by their question (see: Jack Ebling in San Diego this year).
Win or lose, seldom is the time that Izzo won’t answer to the media.
So, yesterday, after MSU’s 72-62 victory over USC in the first round of the NCCA Tournament – and after the mandatory sterile NCAA press conference – Izzo once again invited the media into his locker room area and answered questions. What was originally supposed to be 8-10 minutes went at least double that as Izzo jokingly turned away his comms guy’s attempts to end the availability.
Izzo was in a good mood and was enjoying himself. His approach can be seen in his response to a reporter’s question near the very end of the session.
“I’m getting like a player, I’m getting like a student now,” he said. “I’m starting to learn how to live in the moment. So, it is big. You know, I always live in the past. I always look forward to the future. These damn players, they just live in the moment. Sometimes it drives me up the wall. I’m going to steal a page out of their book and today I’m going to live in the moment. We had to improve defensively; we did. Got a lot of guys listen to what the game plan was. Had key guys that responded. That makes you feel good. In the moment – I’m not going to worry about all those missed free throws … in the moment.”
Living in the moment is a good thing for Izzo. This moment just happens to be his 25th consecutive time doing this and he isn’t taking it for granted. Izzo has evolved over the last five years. Notably so. He is getting much more philosophical in his answers.
“It feels great,” he said. “This tournament is so funny. There’s 68. And really quick there’s 32. Then REALLY quick there’s 16. And I’ve been through it so many times. I’ll never forget when we beat Maryland on a last second shot and then we get back and we find out that Kansas got upset by Northern Iowa. Stuff like that happens all the time. You have to take care of your business. That’s why it’s the greatest sporting event. The NCAA Tournament is a sports spectacle like no other. You talk about weekend after weekend, Cinderella, somebody wearing the glass slipper and all the things that happen. March Madness – it’s why I love it.”
Izzo’s team is still dancing. While he wouldn’t have minded winning going away, without any drama, he did embrace the minimal adversity his players presented for a small stretch and near the end of the game.
“We did have a little adversity,” he said. “Much better defensively for thirty-some minutes of the game. We had our bad stretch and I think our bigs looked tired and didn’t cover the ball screens enough – they got those dunks and the 10-point lead went down quick. We fought through that adversity. We’re the leading free throw shooting team in the conference. I think the guys might have done it on purpose. Things were going smooth, I wasn’t yelling at anybody, everything was cool. So they gave me a reason to be upset tonight. So we’ll have free throw shooting at the hotel.”
Izzo has been harping on his team for weeks now on the defensive pressure they have to apply if they want to win and advance. He was proud of what he saw versus USC.
“[The defense] was the best you’ve seen in a long time and on those two guys [Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson] – I can’t tell you how good Ellis is on film and in person – Tyson Walker did an unbelievable job,” said Izzo. “Jaden Akins bounced back and did an unbelievable job. AJ [Hoggard] did a very good job on Peterson. AJ got in foul trouble – give Malik Hall credit because that is the longest stretch he’s played since he’s been back this year. I was really pleased. He had his shoe off sometimes in the huddle, but he never asked to come out. That was our best defense, we rebounded pretty well until the very end.”
Izzo was particularly impressed with the play of Tyson Walker.
“Tyson did it on both ends,” said Izzo. “One time he said he was tired. I said ‘too bad’ – it was good dialogue – Tyson had to be on that kid. I’m telling you that kid shoots it from half court, way beyond the NBA three. I thought [Walker] did a hell of a job, still ran his lanes, still had to play the point, which is more taxing. And then he gets those big steals.”
Prior to the game, Izzo had told Walker not to reach. Don’t pick up a foul. MSU couldn’t have that happen. But then it did happen.
“I bet you I haven’t said three bad words to Tyson [Walker] all year,” said Izzo. “He never does anything wrong. He’s a good student, he goes to class, he does his work, he comes in and works out, he plays offense, he plays defense – he’s almost an illegal American right now the way basketball is – and yet one of the things we said was you cannot get a foul for reaching. I don’t care if they score a bucket or not, we just knew we couldn’t lose him. And he did. And he was madder at himself, and he took it out on me. I said, ‘hey, I’ve done that a few times and I know where you’re coming from but you ain’t gonna reach again or you’re going to be sitting here.’ And Malik did a good job. And Ty did a good job. Those are the fun parts of the job. I’m not the typical coach. I do argue with my players. They do argue back once in a while. It’s all good.”
Izzo also had some positive things to say about AJ Hoggard.
“AJ was great,” he said. “He was extremely coachable. He was fun to coach, he was fun to be around. There are steps that have been taken and some of it is me. Sometimes I think we manage too much and coach too little. Gotta get back to coaching more and managing less. We spent a lot of time together this week and I’m really proud of the job he did offensively and defensively. And maybe as important, what he said in huddles, what he said on the court, what he understood, what he thought we missed out on, what he thought would work. He was an extension of me on the court. Don’t tell him I said that because that will bum him out and he’ll play bad on Sunday if he thinks he has some of me in him, but I really appreciated him.”
Malik Hall played a key part in the win yesterday and Izzo predicted it when he subbed him into the game.
“When AJ went out, I said Malik this is it man, it’s you or we go home,” Izzo said. “I thought he did a great job. The little jump hook in the lane was one of the more exciting plays of the day for me and nobody probably understood why when they saw it. I’ve been telling him -- he has so much more to his game – I told him that he can’t do those spin moves and shoot it because they have shot blockers in there. That’s why they are one of the top 2 or 3 best two-point defensive teams in the country. I said go to that jump hook. That one that he hit was a big shot at a big time. Those kind of moments – “ok coach” – “ok Malik” – are kind of watershed moments that mean a lot.”
Asked about how and why the Spartans brought the needed energy and defensive pressure needed in this game, Izzo discussed the approach the coaching staff has had over the last week since MSU bowed out of the Big Ten Tournament.
“I thought we had three good practices before Ohio State [in the Big Ten Tournament] and we went out there and did not play with that same sense of energy,” said Izzo. “Then we had meetings and practices and film sessions and we talked about the things that mattered – defense, energy, passion are choices, they’re not skills. It’s just as important as having a good jump shot. So, we talked a lot about that. And last night, a couple of those teams got beat and we talked about that. And I just think all in all, it was fun. I really enjoyed the time with them. I really enjoyed the way they work. I thought we played well today – and we did for all but that five or six minute stretch – but that’s a good team, too, they didn’t come here to lose and go home either.”
Izzo knows more than anyone that, in the big picture, it often times comes down to the coaches.
“We [as coaches] don’t always do the best job either,” said Izzo. “You gotta check your hole card, you gotta look in the mirror, you gotta figure out what the hell is going on yourself. If you don’t get it through to your guys sometimes it’s your fault. I felt today that everybody – coaches, players – were all in it together. Is it because we fear? I hope so. I fear my job every day – that’s what makes me work. Fear of being in the NCAA Tournament and losing? That’s ok. You can’t be nervous at this time what these guys have been through. If fear makes you nervous, you’re probably not going to win anyway. We’re going to have our work cut out [on Sunday vs Marquette]. We’re not dominating in any way. I did feel this team, if we can put it together – there are still some things we have to improve on – but we took a big step today.”
